


Aurora's Fate (or, The Importance of Communication)

by wearerofthehat



Category: La Belle au bois dormant | Sleeping Beauty - Charles Perrault, Sleeping Beauty (1959), Sleeping Beauty (Fairy Tale), Sleeping Beauty - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 10:48:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7712011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearerofthehat/pseuds/wearerofthehat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why on earth didn't they tell her about the curse?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aurora's Fate (or, The Importance of Communication)

**Author's Note:**

> There’s some background knowledge that you probably don’t need but I will give to you anyway. Hiding Aurora in the woods was an invention of Disney’s, as was Maleficent’s direct involvement in the fulfilment of the curse. In both Perrault’s and the Grimms’ versions of the tale, the princess simply stumbles across an old woman in some forgotten room of the palace who had not heard in all the intervening years that spindles had been outlawed. It is only in Disney’s that Maleficent disguises herself as an old woman and tricks her into pricking her finger. This story takes from both traditional versions of the story in that Aurora is not sent away, but as in Disney, Maleficent disguises herself as the old woman.

Aurora stumbled across the tower room as she was running about the castle, and she was startled to see that it was already occupied. It was dusk, and the last remnants of the sunlight cast the figure in front of her into a monstrous silhouette. Aurora paused for a moment, and discerned that the silhouette indicated two separate entities. The first was an old woman. She was hunched, with her head and neck level with her shoulders. Her nose and chin jutted out from her face like pincers, and her fingers were like claws; gnarled and crooked. The second was a wheel-like machine placed in front of her. She was working at it with rhythmic and repetitive movements, and it was emitting a clacking sound. Jutting out from the end was a wooden spike that glinted in the light of the dying sun. 

Aurora stepped forward into the room, and gestured towards the wheel-like machine. ‘Please good mother, what is that?’ 

The old woman did not start at being interrupted, she only replied: ‘Why, it is a spinning wheel.’ The old woman’s tone one of affected surprise, as if Aurora’s education was sorely lacking if she did not know what a spinning wheel looked like. 

The girl walked forward, and gestured to the pointy bit. ‘And that?’ 

‘That is the spindle. You turn the wheel, and then spin the flax on the spindle. It is easy' The old woman leant forward, with one hand outstretched to the princess. 'Would you like to try?’

The girl took a step back. ‘A spindle? I have been told about this…’ she trailed off. Her mother had told her of what had happened at the christening. Of the wicked fairy, and the curse. Aurora bit her lip and took another step backwards, though she tried to remain somewhat polite. For all she knew, this was simply an old woman who through severe isolation did not know that spinning had been illegal for more than a decade. ‘I am sorry, but I am afraid that I have to go back downstairs, it is time for dinner…’ 

‘What were you told about spindles, my dear?’ Aurora stopped backing towards the door. It was impolite to leave someone mid conversation.   
‘I was told that there was a curse, and that I would prick my finger on a spindle and fall asleep for a hundred years.’

The old woman looked puzzled for a moment, and then realisation dawned. ‘Annoying little busybodies’ she muttered under her breath so that the girl did not hear. Then she gave Aurora a sympathetic smile. ‘Dear child, your mother is lying to you. There is no curse. The truth is that she does not want you to outshine her. Spinning is an essential part of womanhood. She thinks that if she can discourage you from ever touching a spinning wheel, she can keep you from becoming a woman and thereby prevent you from becoming more beautiful and powerful than she.’

Suddenly it occurred to Aurora that the crone’s words made a great deal of sense, though she could not explain to herself why. She stepped towards the spindle, hand outstretched. But she stopped, with her hand hovering over the tip of the spindle. The old woman was leaning forward, her claw like hands grasping at nothing, and her mouth hanging open, revealing rotted teeth and exposed gums. The old woman was so desperate for her to touch the spindle that she could not control her eagerness. Repulsed, Aurora drew back her hand. It was harder than it should have been, but she did it.

‘No. I will not touch it. I trust my mother more than I do you, and even if she is lying, I choose the possibility of always being a girl over potentially being sent to sleep for a hundred years.’ Again she started to turn towards the door. ‘Now, I really must go.’

There was a cry of rage from behind her, and suddenly green light flooded the room. It blinded Aurora for a moment, and when the light cleared, there stood a beautiful woman with horns and wings. She spat something in a language Aurora did not understand, and gestured savagely to the spindle. 

It launched itself towards her, and stabbed her in the finger. It drew blood, but nothing else happened. ‘What?’ Maleficent cried. ‘Why didn’t that work?’

‘Semantics, probably.’ 

‘What?’

‘You said that I would prick my finger on a spindle. I did not. You made a spindle stab me. Those are two very different things. All this time, you have thought that you controlled my fate, when really it was in my hands all along.’ 

Maleficent gave a final cry of rage, and then vanished in another flash of green light.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of subtitling this: 'When Sleeping Beauty Doesn't.' And then I didn't, because I didn't want to spoil my own work. 
> 
> (And please excuse the horrible pun at the end. I couldn't resist)


End file.
